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AIRPORT SERVICE QUALITY

BENCHMARKING THE GLOBAL AIRPORT INDUSTRY

Best Practice Report

Baggage Carts

AIRPORTS COUNCIL
INTERNATIONAL
Introduction

Airport Service Quality (ASQ) is a comprehensive ACI Contents


initiative to help airports in their continuing efforts
to improve the quality of service experienced by Landside baggage carts 2
passengers.
Pricing 3
The Best Practice Report is a new service offered by the
ASQ Survey and is part of the programme’s commitment Baggage cart features 4
to identifying and disseminating best practices from top-
performing airports around the world. Baggage cart management 5

The report focuses on a specific topic, aiming to provide Airside baggage carts 6
a comprehensive picture of practices at participating
airports as well as to serve as the basis for further
discussions between ASQ participants.

The report is based on information collected from Survey Participants


airports participating in the ASQ Survey using an on-
line questionnaire. The present document is a short Africa / Middle East - Asia
presentation of the main results of the research and has Bangkok, Christchurch, Doha, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur,
been rendered anonymous. ASQ participants received the Muscat, Nagoya, Nairobi, New Delhi, Seoul ICN, Sydney,
full report along with individual profiles for all airports Tel Aviv
which participated in the online survey.
Americas
The topic of the first Best Practice Report is Baggage Atlanta, Austin, Calgary, Cancun, Cleveland, Detroit,
Carts. The following aspects were covered: Edmonton, Halifax, Houston HOU, Houston IAH, Lima,
Mexico, Minneapolis, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto,
 Number of carts available Washington IAD

 Cost of using baggage carts


Europe
Birmingham, Bordeaux, Bournemouth, Brussels, Dublin,
 Type / Features of baggage carts
East Midlands, Faro, Geneva, Helsinki, Krakow, Lyon,
Madeira, Madrid, Manchester, Milan LIN, Milan MXP,
 Baggage cart management
Moscow DME, Munich, Oslo, Ponta Delgada, Porto, Rome
FCO, Vienna, Zurich
 Number of airside carts available

 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report


Landside Baggage Carts

The first aspect covered by the research relates to the The number of landside baggage carts varies widely
baggage carts located landside at the airport. This service among the participating airports, ranging from less than
is generally offered by airports and this section aims to 20 to over 450 baggage carts per million passengers.
highlight the main characteristics and features of the
various types of carts used by the participating airports. Airports with newer facilities and spare capacity tend
to have a high number of carts available. On the other
In order to compare the total number of baggage carts hand, airports which have a high proportion of connecting
in various airports, we have chosen to use as a unit passengers need less landside baggage trolleys.
the following ratio: “number of baggage carts for 1
million passengers per year”. This allows an immediate The average number of landside baggage carts at
comparison of all participating airports which is participating airports is 159 carts per million passengers.
independent from the airport size.

Landside Baggage Carts

 Average number of baggage carts: 159 carts / million passengers

0
Number of baggage carts per million passengers

0 100 200 300 400 500


 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report
Pricing

Three different pricing practices for the use of baggage Price benchmark
carts were identified:

 Free of charge
Passengers can freely use the baggage carts. It
requires staff to collect the empty trolleys and bring
them back to the storage points.

 Deposit
Carts are locked in specific locations and passengers
need to use a coin or a token to unlock a cart.
Passengers retrieve the coin/token when the cart is
returned to the storage point.

 Pay per use


Carts are locked in specific locations and passengers
need to pay to unlock the cart. Passengers may get In order to compare the cost to use a baggage cart in
a partial refund when they bring the cart back to a different airports, all prices were converted into US
storage location. Dollars. Many airports have outsourced their baggage cart
management to the same provider and therefore charge
a similar amount for the use of baggage carts (3 USD). At
Use of baggage carts
other airports the price ranges from 1.5 to 4 USD.
Pay to use Free of charge Deposit
9%
Finally, ASQ Survey results show that airports which use a
26% pay to use or a deposit system achieve lower satisfaction
ratings for “Availability of baggage carts” than airports
where the use of baggage carts is free of charge.

Modes of payment available


Coins / Forex Coins / Forex

Coins / Notes / Credit Card Bank Notes

3%
9%
65%

Most airports still offer a baggage cart service to


passengers free of charge (65%), around one quarter of
the participants (26%) charge passengers for the use of
baggage carts and 10% of the sample stated that they 56%
had a deposit system in place. 32%

 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report


Baggage cart features

Four major suppliers work with the majority of the airports Can the cart be used on the walkways?
and represent a market share of 71%. Yes No

Cart manufacturer by brand


Expresso Wentzl

Smarte Carte Federico Giner


Other 38%

19%
29%
62%

23%

8% Can the cart be used on the escalators?


Yes No

21%
12%

There are many models available on the market. In order


to compare them we have identified the most important
features of landside baggage carts:

 Can the cart be used in the lift/elevators?

 Can the cart be used on the moving walkways?

 Can the cart be used on the escalators?


88%
 Is the cart equipped with a breaking system?

Can the cart be used in the lifts? Does the cart have a breaking system?
Yes No Yes No

10%

44%

56%

90%

 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report


Baggage Cart Management
The majority of airports outsource the management of Advertisement on baggage carts?
their baggage cart system to a supplier. The main benefits Yes No
of outsourcing are:

 Minimises the costs for the airport


 Rely on experts in the area
40%
 Service levels included in the contract

How is the baggage cart system handled?


Internally Outsourced 60%

26%

Using the baggage carts as an advertisement means has


the following benefits:

 Marketing tool to promote your airport


 Promote retail / commercial activities at the airport
74%  Source of income if the advertising space is sold

Among the participating airports, 60% of the respondents


mentioned that they were putting advertisement on their
ASQ Survey Results indicate that airports which have
baggage carts.
outsourced the management of their baggage carts
achieve higher ratings for “Availability of baggage carts”
than those who manage the carts internally.

Rating for “Availability of baggage carts”


5.0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5 3.69 3.81

2.0

1.5

1.0
Internally Managed Outsourced

 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report


Airside Carts

Airside baggage carts were the second aspect covered by


the research. These carts are located after security and
are designed to help passengers carry their hand luggage
and shopping bags.

Airside Baggage Carts

seteuqap-atrop orraC 3860 .doM

 Average number of airside carts: 26 carts / million passengers


 60% of the airports offer an airside cart service
Ó£

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Number of baggage carts per million passengers

In order to be able to compare the number of carts at The main hubs in Asia and airports who really focus on
airports of different sizes, we have chosen to use as their retail activities offer over 30 airside carts per 1
a unit the ratio “number of baggage carts for 1 million million passengers, whilst other airports in Europe and
passengers per year”. North America have a lower number of carts available.

For this type of cart there is also an important variation in


the number of carts available at each airport.

 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report


Contact Details

AIRPORTS COUNCIL
INTERNATIONAL

Damien Kobel Craig Bradbrook

Director Director, Security & Facilitation


DKMA ACI, Airports Council International

Chemin du Riant-Coteau, 9 P.O. Box 16


CH - 1196 Gland CH - 1215 Geneva 15 Airport
Switzerland Switzerland

Tel: +41 22 354 07 54 Tel: +41 22 717 87 36


E-mail: damien.kobel@dkma.com E-mail: cbradbrook@aci.aero

© ACI 2008

 Airport Service Quality - Best Practice Report

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